32. Marital Problems Cause Brief Setback

During the second week of my stay in East Berlin, two letters from my wife who was still in Oberlin arrived at the US Embassy. She informed me that she had rented an apartment in the nearby city of Lorain, would be moving out of our house and taking half of our furniture and other belongings with her. Although we had been experiencing marital problems for around two years, as I recall, this news took me very much by surprise and—as the saying goes—threw me for a loop. I wanted to return to Oberlin, but my wife urged me not to do that. I decided to stay in the GDR, press forward with my project to the best of my ability, and make the best of a situation that was very distressing. I lost momentum for a couple of weeks, but somehow managed to accomplish most of what needed to be done during the remainder of my stay.